Masa

04/29/08

Masa - Good for a bite, not for dinner

by galewskj

I've been to Masa twice for dinner and twice for "dessert and drinks". First of all, you have to realize that this is a fancy Mexican restaurant. With all of the cheap, authentic, delicious Mexican restaurants around here it may be an unusual concept to go to a nice Mexican restaurant and pay over $20 for a taco-ish entree. If you can get past that, I think Masa offers exceptional quality food in a modern, sleek environment. To me, their largest selling point is the modern decor right downtown on Nicollet. My one complaint with Masa is the entree sizes. Both entrees that I ate here very good but there was not enough food on the plate to constitute a meal. Keep in mind that I do not subscribe to the "more is better" standard in America and do not expect restaurants to serve me a ridiculous amount of food. On the contrary, I appreciate restaurants that serve quality food and keep their portion sizes to normal. Masa's entrees are tiny. One dish was 3 seared scallops each about 1.5 inches in diameter accompanied by 4-5 bites of caramelized squash. It tasted great and left me still hungry. The second dish was about 3 ounces of pork in a banana leaf with 1/2 cup of black beans and some flat tortillas on the side. Again, everything I ate was good but they could have doubled the amount of food. Both times I ate here for dinner, I had an appetizer, entree and dessert, and walked away hungry. As for service, our waiters have been young and inexperienced. One of them was quite the salesman, with the know-it-all-ness that only youth has, trying feverishly to maximize the bill by continually asking if we wanted more drinks, more anything. Once we didn't receive our chips and salsa until after our food came, despite asking several times if we could have some. If I go back to Masa, it will be to order a bite to eat, linger with friends and enjoy the ambience. I can not expect to be fed my dinner there.

• Pros: Quality of food, ambience
• Cons: Quantity of food, service

10/13/07

Love it!

by dc56

A refreshing change for Nicollet! We have dined at Masa multiple times over the past few months and on every occassion we have been satisfied beyond our expectations. The unique flavors, friendly waitstaff and warm energy Masa emits is hard to match in the heart of the city. The restaurant does have some problems...the dining room can be noisy on the weekends and it has become more difficult to get in without a reservation. There was one night we had to eat at the bar before the orchestra but were very pleased with the service. Overall I am happy to have stumbled across Masa and look forward to many return visits!! ps..if you like a little heat, ask for the habanero salsa...

• Pros: Service, Atmosphere
• Cons: Noise Level

06/13/07

lousy place for vegetarians

by gte081h

has an excellent location in downtown with outdoor seating, but sad menu for vegetarians. had some salsa n chips, and ordered side of their rice n beans, very ordinary. tried their white sangria, was terrible, felt like a cocktail-punch with no kick. had no fruit either.